expedition. But the main party had missed a note that scouts had pinned to a pole – it had been felled by beavers – and taken the wrong fork. The confusion caused the expedition to be delayed a couple of days.
The river became increasingly rapid each day. The men struggled in the white water, poling or wading, and dragging the canoes. At times, they had to grasp the bushes on the banks to pull themselves against the swift current, dragging the heavy craft over sand bars, bruising their feet on the sharp stones.
On August 8, Sacagawea recognized a rock formation in the shape of a beaver’s head; it was Beaverhead Rock, near present-day Dillon, Montana. The Indian guide told the captains that her people used to cross the mountains nearby to a river that flowed to the west. This meant the Shoshones must not be far. There had been other signs of Indians - smoke, trails by the river, a fresh moccasin print - but the explorers had not yet seen a person. It was vital they cross the mountains before the snow, and they could not hope to find a route without help. The next day, Lewis set out overland with Drouillard, John Shields, and Hugh McNeal, determined not to return until he had met Indians. “In short,” Lewis wrote, “it is my resolution to find them, or some others who have horses, if it should cause me a trip of one month.”
After Lewis’s party had climbed the valley alongside the Jefferson for a day, the river divided into two equal branches, both impassable for canoes. At the fork, Lewis left a note advising Clark to wait there until he returned.
The next morning they pushed on, walking some distance apart, with Drouillard and Shields posted right and left and Lewis and McNeal in the center. Suddenly, an Indian appeared on horseback on the plain in front of them. Through his telescope, Lewis could see that he belonged to no nation they had met before, so he concluded the stranger was a member of the Shoshone tribe.
Lewis and the Indian stopped when they were about a mile apart. The captain brought out a blanket. Holding it by two corners, he tossed it into the air three times and pulled it down to earth. This was a universal sign of peace among Missouri River and Rocky Mountain Indians.
Drouillard and Shields kept walking. They were too far to hear Lewis call, and Lewis was afraid to make any signal for fear of alarming the Shoshone. It was an agonizing situation. All he could do was to leave his gun with McNeal and walk forward, holding up trinkets as gifts. In anticipation of this meeting, Lewis had questioned Sacagawea, who told him that the Shoshone word for white man was tab-ba-bone. But as the Shoshones had never met a white man before, tab-ba-bone was actually their word for “stranger” - a nuance that was lost on Lewis. He wrote about the encounter: “. . . [the Indian] remained in the same stedfast poisture untill I arrived in about 200 paces of him when he turn his ho[r]se about and began to move off slowly from me; I now called to him in as loud a voice as I could command repeating the word tab-ba-bone, which in their language signifyes white-man. But lo[o]king over his sholder he still kept his eye on Drewyer and Shields who wer still advancing. . . .”
The Indian was growing suspicious of the party’s intentions. Although the captain succeeded in halting Drouillard, Shields kept plodding ahead. At last, the fearful Indian turned his horse, jumped a creek, and vanished into some willows. “. . . and with him,” Lewis lamented, “vanished all my hopes of obtaining horses for the present. I now felt quite as much mortification and disappointment as I had pleasure and expectation at the first sight of this Indian.”
Lewis was furious with Shields for ruining their chance to meet the Shoshones and decided not to risk alarming the tribe. Instead of following the Indian’s trail, he had the men build a fire, and they ate breakfast. He put up a pole with small gifts on it to show their
The river became increasingly rapid each day. The men struggled in the white water, poling or wading, and dragging the canoes. At times, they had to grasp the bushes on the banks to pull themselves against the swift current, dragging the heavy craft over sand bars, bruising their feet on the sharp stones.
On August 8, Sacagawea recognized a rock formation in the shape of a beaver’s head; it was Beaverhead Rock, near present-day Dillon, Montana. The Indian guide told the captains that her people used to cross the mountains nearby to a river that flowed to the west. This meant the Shoshones must not be far. There had been other signs of Indians - smoke, trails by the river, a fresh moccasin print - but the explorers had not yet seen a person. It was vital they cross the mountains before the snow, and they could not hope to find a route without help. The next day, Lewis set out overland with Drouillard, John Shields, and Hugh McNeal, determined not to return until he had met Indians. “In short,” Lewis wrote, “it is my resolution to find them, or some others who have horses, if it should cause me a trip of one month.”
After Lewis’s party had climbed the valley alongside the Jefferson for a day, the river divided into two equal branches, both impassable for canoes. At the fork, Lewis left a note advising Clark to wait there until he returned.
The next morning they pushed on, walking some distance apart, with Drouillard and Shields posted right and left and Lewis and McNeal in the center. Suddenly, an Indian appeared on horseback on the plain in front of them. Through his telescope, Lewis could see that he belonged to no nation they had met before, so he concluded the stranger was a member of the Shoshone tribe.
Lewis and the Indian stopped when they were about a mile apart. The captain brought out a blanket. Holding it by two corners, he tossed it into the air three times and pulled it down to earth. This was a universal sign of peace among Missouri River and Rocky Mountain Indians.
Drouillard and Shields kept walking. They were too far to hear Lewis call, and Lewis was afraid to make any signal for fear of alarming the Shoshone. It was an agonizing situation. All he could do was to leave his gun with McNeal and walk forward, holding up trinkets as gifts. In anticipation of this meeting, Lewis had questioned Sacagawea, who told him that the Shoshone word for white man was tab-ba-bone. But as the Shoshones had never met a white man before, tab-ba-bone was actually their word for “stranger” - a nuance that was lost on Lewis. He wrote about the encounter: “. . . [the Indian] remained in the same stedfast poisture untill I arrived in about 200 paces of him when he turn his ho[r]se about and began to move off slowly from me; I now called to him in as loud a voice as I could command repeating the word tab-ba-bone, which in their language signifyes white-man. But lo[o]king over his sholder he still kept his eye on Drewyer and Shields who wer still advancing. . . .”
The Indian was growing suspicious of the party’s intentions. Although the captain succeeded in halting Drouillard, Shields kept plodding ahead. At last, the fearful Indian turned his horse, jumped a creek, and vanished into some willows. “. . . and with him,” Lewis lamented, “vanished all my hopes of obtaining horses for the present. I now felt quite as much mortification and disappointment as I had pleasure and expectation at the first sight of this Indian.”
Lewis was furious with Shields for ruining their chance to meet the Shoshones and decided not to risk alarming the tribe. Instead of following the Indian’s trail, he had the men build a fire, and they ate breakfast. He put up a pole with small gifts on it to show their
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